in reference to the movie, princess bride. bill: i think they have called worse. martha: what do you think our secret service code should be? bill: what do you think about that? jenna: mart you have one for you. "happening now" starts right now. we'll have prime time coverage from the floor of the dnc. thanks, everybody. jon: right now, brand new stories and breaking news. jenna: president obama polish -- polishing his speech two days before the he takes the big stage. some voters including democrats want to know what a second term would really look like. has the president really laid out a policy agenda for the next four years? we have a fair and balanced debate on that. also the first lady is in the spotlight. what we will hear from michelle obama. how will her speech compare with ann romney he is. personal take on her husband. closing arguments as a jury is getting set to

decide if drew peterson murdered his third wife. lots of news. we're glad you're with us. it is all "happening now." jenna: opening day at the democratic national convention, start of like baseball season, right? it is their tournament. their turn. i'm jenna lee. we're glad you're with us. jon: i'm jon scott. we're live in charlotte, north carolina with continuing coverage as president obama and his team make a case for a second term. this stands in stark contrast to the gop's, backs abortion rights, same-sex marriage and calls for higher taxes on the wealthiest americans. then come the speeches. tonight the first lady addresses the delegates. she is set to play up the difference between her husband and governor romney. another highlight tonight. the keynote address. san antonio mayor, julian castro, a rising young star

in the democratic party is set to deliver it. he is the first latino ever tapped for the dnc's high-profile prime-time speech. while governor romney has no campaign events today his running mate is in the battleground state of ohio, set to attend a rally next hour. both governor romney and the president are firmly focused winning over all important undecided voters. chief washington correspondent james rosen is live in washington with a look at that, james. >> reporter: jon and jenna, good afternoon. it is estimated the romney and obama campaigns will spend $2 billion in this cycle in large measure chasing undecided voters across the country. nowhere is that competition here in the very state where the obama-biden ticket is about to be nominated. latest poll by elon university shows mitt romney outpointing president obama by a small margin within the state, well within the margin of error. it says 6% of likely voters in the tarheel state have

not decided who they will support in november. >> i think in many cases we look at the undecideds, they tend to be less knowledgeable. they don't know where the dnc is being held. they didn't know when the rn. consider was being held. they tend to be less educated. so maybe, take a little time for them to make up their mind closer to the election. >> reporter: fox news spent some time talking with undecided voters in north carolina. they are especially critical here because barack obama's heart begin of victory in this state four years ago was just 14,000 votes, less than half a percentage point. >> it feels like in most cases it's a lot of talk that never goes anywhere from whoever is elected right? so as a result i feel like, you know, does my vote really count for what i care about? maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. >> i like some things from both candidates. i will weigh the two and make that decision but you know it is a very important decision because the country is facing a lot of crises

with the economy. housing, the debt crisis and prices of everything is going up. >> reporter: the demographic group in north carolina that posted the strongest gains in sheer voting numbers in 2008 was african-americans. 127,000 now african-americans showed up to the polls in north carolina four years ago than had done so in 2004. if president obama wind up splitting those undecided voters with governor romney, he will need the black turnout in that state to remain at historic levels if he is to remain competitive here. jon and jenna, james rosen, live for us from charlotte. james, thank you. jenna: looks okay where james was standing right there you about weather was such a big factor at the rnc apparently till will be a factor in charlotte as well. meteorologist maria molina is live in the fox weather center. >> we'll see a lot of activity into charlotte, later on this afternoon, this evening and very heavy rain forecast. a frontal boundary stretches

from the northeast down to the southeast. it is producing very heavy rain across southern parts of alabama and the florida panhandle. at the moment north carolina you are pretty quiet. not a whole lot of activity. isolated showers here and there. you will start to see more of that stuff as we head later today and into tomorrow. take a look at our convention forecast. tuesday and wednesday looks like it will be pretty muggy day out there with a lot of showers and storms. by thursday we could begin to dry things out just in time for that. that looks pretty good. isolated shower and thunderstorms especially later on in the afternoon will still be possible. that same frontal boundary will produce larger issues in up state pennsylvania and new york. the possibility of severe weather and the same across the state across the south. a second front, this one a lot stronger will produce a bit of a cool-down behind the plains will produce severe storms as well. wisconsin, iowa, parts of minnesota, heads up you could see severe storms later today.

temperatures ahead of the first front, very warm. 90s across florida. you do have heavier rain will be slightly cooler. 82 for the high in tallahassee. look at new orleans. people are without power. high temperature 90 degrees. very humid as well it. will feel even hotter. jenna we have a lot of activity across the tropics. tropical storm leslie, a very large storm spanning about 500 miles from one end to the other. we could be feeling impacts from bermuda as a category 2 hurricane heading into this weekend. jenna: got to remember that also. still hurricane season. maria, thank you very much. jon: remember before the republican convention? jenna: way back then. jon: we were worried about isaac hitting the tampa. jenna: nothing happened. in that weather sense. could be metaphorically which leads to the next segment. jon: first lady michelle obama headlines tonight's democratic convention. of course her speech will be compared to ann romney's

last week but michelle obama is certainly not new to the spotlight. our mike emanuel takes a closer look at the first lady over the past four years. >> reporter: for michelle obama being first lady helps the president be his best, being first mom to saw shaand malia and fighting obesity with the let's move initiative. >> let's move. >> reporter: encouraging healthy eating with her white house garden and serving as a key figure on the campaign trail. are. >> are you ready to roll up your sleeves, find that one person, shake them up. get them involved the beauty of campaigning you're talking to america and it is a really cool country with some really great people, all over the place. >> reporter: the first lady enjoyed much higher favorability ratings than her husband, something most first lady haves done. mrs. obama is no longer seen as the angry spouse and campaigner many took her to be in the 2008 campaign. she has though taken some

heat since then. in summer of 2010 she drew criticism for a vacation in spain during she and daughter is a shastayed at a exclusive five-star resort. later she sneaked out of the white house purchasing a at a target store, cleaning supplies and dog food, a disingenuous way to. they also believe she will be able to speak very personally as someone who has been by his side when had to make tough decisions. in charlotte, mike emanuel, fox news. jon: for more now on the first lady's speech tonight and how it is expected to stack up to ann romney's, let's bring in erin mcpike, political reporter for "real clear politics". erin, are we going to hear any attacks on, you know, mitt romney or paul ryan from the first lady? >> not at all. michelle obama does not talk about mitt romney.

the white house says adamantly that michelle obama does not engage in politics that is not her role. she doesn't like doing it. she is very popular and they think that her engaging in politics would make her a little less popular. jon: so what is the job for the first lady then when she opens the convention with this speech? >> well you know ann romney, you referred to her a minute ago, had a much bigger lift a week ago than michelle obama had. no one really knew ann romney. in fact a lot of the american people and the electorate doesn't know that much about mitt romney. so ann romney's job was introduce herself and her husband and serve as a character witness. same way michelle obama is serving as a character witness. people understand and know president obama and her. so she is just there to serve as a validator to say, he has been working hard. he will continue to be working hard and she will validate him. jon: a reporter at "politico" named lois romano wrote a piece where she

discusses the difference of these two ladies, they are generation apart. supporting husband of opposite political parties. she says never have two spouses in the same election been such significant and strategic players in their husband's campaigns. do you agree with that assessment? i mean are these two, you know, the first lady and the potential first lady, are they really the important layers? >> i think, and i have talked to some of the president's aides about this, that michelle obama's speech will be as important as the president because michelle obama is the most popular thing about the white house and she is what a lot of independent voters still love about the white house. it's her. so i would agree with that assessment. the same is true of ann romney. she is what we kept saying last week. she humanized mitt romney. that is really important because people had seen mitt romney as so stiff and so many people are so at this point, not very enthused about president obama but michelle obama can probably bring that back.

jon: you said earlier that she doesn't like the political part of speech-making. she made that controversial speech fours years ago which she said for the first time in her adult life she was proud of her country. is that the kind of thing she is trying to stay away from? have voters forgotten that? >> they have absolutely forgotten that. in fact her convention speech four years ago was so important in making voters forget about that. she had said that earlier in the summer and her entire convention speech four years ago was really designed to make the public love her. and it ink changed the public's feelings towards michelle obama. she has been very popular ever since. so i do think that that has been long forgotten. jon: erin mcpike from "real clear politics". erin, good to have you on. hope you enjoy the time in charlotte this week. >> i will. jon: thanks. jenna: see how important women are to a partnership, hint, hint, jon scott. the.

>> oh, oh, knife me in the heart. jenna: just saying i want to point it out as we have another two hours to go in this program. let's talk about what is happening in the dow today. important information came out on manufacturing today. basically data measures manufacturing activity showed it fell to a three-year low. so that is really weighing on the markets today. everyone is back from the holiday. the markets are trending lower by 100 points. off the low but still not good news when it comes to the manufacturing sector which so many different politicians will talk about this season. bill clinton is set to make the case for four more years for president obama as the democrats get ready to kick off their convention. the two men, according to reports, don't always see eye-to-eye but mr. clinton will play a very important role in charlotte this week. we'll talk a little bit more how important that role is, jon. maybe if he can overshadow the president a little bit. jon: bubba is back. jenna: bubba is back. has he ever really left? jon: closing arguments in the drew peterson murder

trial. what prosecutors need to say to get a conviction in this circumstantial case. we'll get into a debate with two legal expertses

jenna: president clinton playing a key role at the democratic convention this week. he will deliver a prime time address tomorrow night in a spot usually reserved for the vice president. the vice president by the

way will be speaking a little later on in the week. the very popular former president will make the case for barack obama's re-election but the two men don't always see eye-to-eye. in fact as recently as this summer they were backing different candidates when redistricting forced two new jersey congressman to go head-to-head in a primary, president clinton backed one congressman and president clinton supported bill pascrell. he won the primary and joining us from charlotte. you got support from president clinton. politics is a tough sport, congressman but, the president didn't have your back there. why have his back now? >> well, my relationship with the clintons go back, i did support hillary in the 2008 primary. and then was an avid supporter of president obama and i'm proud of that decision that i made and i'm proud, i believe, we're going to make this in november as tough a race that it is. i'm very happy with my

relationship with bill clinton. he asked to help. i wanted his help. he came to my district which he only did i think one other congressman although he endorsed two or three. he did come to my district just before the election. it was a big, big help. a good boost to the troops out there. that is the way this election will be won. not by speeches focus groups polls. it will be won by who is on the ground getting out the vote. not the last day, three our for weeks ahead of time. if that operation hasn't started now, either candidate is no trouble. jenna: no hard feelings at the president obviously. you're there at the convention. >> right. jenna: the political power of president clinton is still very relevant today. >> absolutely. jenna: as you probably realized yourself. do you think there is any risk because president clinton is so popular now, that he could overshadow the president or be too much of a stark contrast to president obama? >> well i don't think president obama should be worried about that. i think he should be happy to get the president's support and the president is

going to have a big support from bill clinton. he is there, not to go through the motions. not to set the stage for his wife four years from now. he is there so that the president will win re-election. i think he has his whole heart into it. he will give a great speech. i can't wait. it won't be as long as some of the speeches as in the past conventions. jenna: football game, congressman, the cowboys and new york giants are playing wednesday night. do you think there will be a big enough audience for president clinton? >> now that america's team is the new york giants i don't have any problems. i think giants will win tonight. manning will have a great night. jenna: we'll talk a little football talk, a little politics. let me ask you about the democratic party as well. >> sure. jenna: "the new york times" had an article assessing where the democratic party is. the writer called the democratic party an unruly con grom race, easy for me to say, united in belief the

government has a crucial role to play in the economy and social justice. would you describe the democratic party that same way? still diverse group but united with the assumption that government has a vital role in the country? >> most of the democrats i know and i've known quite a few over the years, jenna, most democrats like limited government as well and it would seem to me it is going overboard to say one party is for big government, the other is for small government. we certainly didn't have small government between 2001 and 2008. i don't want to look back. i'm not blaming anything. neither party is privy to virtue as far as i'm concerned. but the fact of the matter is, where is that proper measure? where do you stop? where is the balance between what government should be responsible for, try to get involved into help the locals. when government should stay the heck out? we i think solved problems over the past 30 years from both parties. we don't like the government government in our bedroom. so we want limited government as well as anybody else.

it is the proper place to do it. that's what you debate about. jenna: real quick here, where do you see evidence of the president, the president's limited government policies? where would you point to say, hey, we want a balance and this is what area we see the president saying hey, this is not a role for the government to play? >> well if you want to make comparisons between what came before and last four years, president obama actually i think tried to have oversight and review of what our environmental rules should be. people who say we have too many regulations they usually don't know what they're talking about. unless you go regulation by regulation. this president is actually tried to reduce regulations, particularly when it interfierce with small business or the lords of capital, corporations. i think that, again, that is something we can debate. but if you say we don't need the environmental protection agency, that is not making government smaller. what it is doing is reducing the protection for the consumer and reducing the protection of our citizens. that is the way i look at this. this election will be won on

the ground. it will not be won by speeches, not even president clinton's speech or i'm looking forward to president obama's speech of course on thursday night. it is going to be won on the ground. who can get their troops out there to get the voters out between now and election day. that's where it is. forget about focus groups. forget about polls. they all sound well. we're watching the tracking system, aren't we jenna? it means very little at this particular time. looks like only 4% of the people ha are open to change their minds if you look at polls. jenna: that is true. very important perspective for us to bring us back down-to-earth over what the election is about because over the next couple days, congressman, we'll be dissecting each and every word just like football plays to bring it book to football. >> that is absolutely right. jenna: congressman, thanks for the time today. really nice to see you. >> say hello to jon, jenna. i really appreciate it. you will have a good time. jon: it was a republican president who started the

epa. jenna: that is interesting, yeah. jon: gop not sitting idly buy as the democrats host their convention in north carolina. vice-presidential nominee paul ryan hitting two key battle ground states today. we'll tell you what he is saying. a week after hurricane isaac ripped across the gulf some in louisiana say the damage rivals the he devastation from katrina

jenna: "happening now", we're taking you out to the very important swing state of ohio for something that has nothing to do with politics. jon: no donkeys, no elephants. jenna: nothing like that but a bear. this is a suburb of cleveland. apparently this little guy, or maybe not so little was wandering around an apartment complex late last night, found his way up into a tree. the authorities in the area have been trying just about everything to get him or her out of the tree but hasn't

been successful. jon: the guy wants a nap. bears are nocturnal. he probably raided some garbage cans last night. getting to be hibernation season. he wants to get fat and take a nap. kind of like me. jenna: right about now. hopefully this doesn't happen when you try to take a nap. the folks trying to get the bear out of the tree decided it would be a good idea to spray the bear with water than try to training willize it. that doesn't look comfortable. and not successful. the bear is still up there, and not heading down. jon: apparently trying to use sort of natural methods to get him out of the tree. they don't want to training willize him if they don't have but they want him out of the tree. i say let the bear do what bears do. which is take a nap in a tree. jenna: kind of stuff if you have residents in the area and little kids and the like. so, right now, bedford heights, ohio, bear in a tree at the top of that tree. branches don't look too thick.

i don't think it has very many places to go but a standoff if you will. jon: i know shep will be updating us tonight on the fox report as what happens with the bear. tonight the firehouse is not doing the trick and the bear is still there. while the democrats are focused on their convention in north carolina, the gop's vice-presidential nominee is hitting two key battleground states. right now congressman paul ryan is in ohio where the bear is gearing up for a rally next hour. then he heads to iowa. rich edson with the fox business network is live in washington keeping an eye on all of this. so what is the vice president and his fellow republicans, what are they focusing on? >> reporter: jon, i can't follow the bear. i don't know how you expect me to do that. jon: sorry to do that to you, rich. >> reporter: for republican candidates they are renewing a line from 198 when then candidate ronald reagan asked voters if they were better off after four years carter administration then.

voters swept reagan into unemployment. with 8.3% unemplo independent and slow job growth. vice-presidential candidate paul ryan blamed the president's economic plan. >> i say if you look at the president's policies he cause them investments. it is borrowing money and spending money through washington, picking winners and losers. spending money on favored people like solyndra or fisker, picking winners and losers in the economy through spending, through tax breaks, through regulations does not work. if that kind of economics worked we would be entering a golden age alongwith greece. >> reporter: president obama and democrats make the case if not for the president's policies the economy would be worse off. whoever can make the argument for or against that will likely win the election, jon. jon: so what are the candidates doing today? >> reporter: governor romney is in vermont. he is prepping for next month's debates. congressman ryan is in ohio. he will speak at a rally this afternoon and thin head to iowa.

those are two states in play this november. back in charlotte, republicans make sure democrats don't have a political monopoly on the city this week. the republican national committee is set up at the nascar hall of fame right across from the democratic convention site. democrats tried a similar approach to tampa scheduling a trip there for vice president joe biden however hurricane isaac canceled those plans. jon. jon: that hurricane messed up all kinds of things, didn't it? ask the folks around new orleans, louisiana, what a mess. >> reporter: right. jon: rich edson, fox business network. thank you. jenna: rich did a good job following the bear. jon: they say never follow children or animals. jenna: we'll be back to the bear as soon as possible. meantime i will tell you a little bit about what is happening in charlotte tonight. some democrats are obviously descending on the city. 17 of the party's biggest names are not attending the convention. they include california governor jerry brown.

missouri senator claire mccaskill, montana senator, jon tester. west virgina senator joe manchin and new york congressman bill owe wednesday. on the gop side more than a dozen high-profile folks stayed home not including those who did so because of hurricane isaac as john and rich were talking about. former president george w. bush did not attend. he showed up in a void yo as former vice president dick cheney and former vice-presidential nominee, sarah palin and former candidate john huntsman an george allen of virginia. if you look reason why some attended or did not, some are in tough battles in their own home states and don't necessarily feels there is the time and don't want association with either party's convention. jon: they always say they want to stay home and campaign or serve their constituents. jenna: on both sides. jon: on both sides. president obama says governor romney has the wrong vision for america but what is his vision for a second term? we'll get a fair and balanced debate on that underway next.

facebook fans setting their sights on betty white. what some democrats would like to see from the 90-year-old actress coming up.

jon: as democrats get ready to nominate 39 obama for a second term this week some are wondering what his vision is for another four years. would he focus on immigration reform, tax reform, make changes to medicare, medicaid? major garrett, now of the "national journal" daily writes, the easiest way to trip up a democrat in charlotte convention is ask him this question, what is obama's vision for a second term. the placeholder answer is of course creating an economy built to last but this talking.has to even some democrats begun to wear thin. often repeated but lacks definition. so what is the president's vision for the second term?

let's get into a fair and balanced debate. kate obenshain, former chairwoman of the republican party of virginia. simon rosenberg, founder of new democrat network and former clinton campaign advisor. simon, as the democrat on this panel perhaps you are best quipped to answer that question. what is president obama's vision for the second term? >> sure. at a big picture level he will lay out a modern plan to make sure america can move forward in an age of great change. when you see the global economy changing, rising powers around the world it is required in a time of great transformation for the country to have a forward-looking and confident plan. i think he will lay that out. very specifically on domestic issues you will hear a lot of focus on jobs, housing health care, immigration, skills for our workers and all the above energy plan that will continue to move us toward energy independence. i think you will hear a much stronger argument than perhaps the press understands right now because the president has been making these arguments in the last two years in the

state of the union and budget, most detailed set of plans anybody put forward than any candidate for president the last few years. jon: kate, you say his argument boils down to give me four more years to do the same i've been doing up until now? >> i think it is interesting based on what simon just said, the one thing you're not going to hear is anything about his signature achievement which was obamacare and how that is going to affect us moving forward. but, look, jon, his slogan now is forward, which we're seeing is as empty as hope and change is in hindsight. there is nothing. the president basically going to be saying i'm going to do more of the same. same ol' same ol'. but it's a tough position to be in with the republicans hammering away at obamacare, at the failed stimulus, and all of the initiatives that obama has put forward that have led to still the same high unemployment. gas more than doubled. he has got these scandals like solyndra that you just heard paul ryan talking

about. it is going to be really hard. i think you're going to hear instead of more of a positive and optimistic view of the future you will hear more of this divide and conquer. attacking republicans. class warfare rhetoric. war against women instead of talking about a bold be optimistic vision for the future. they don't have one. jon: simon in your first answer you mentioned it is now a global economy and the president will be addressing that but it was also a global financial meltdown that hit world markets in 2008. >> right. jon: how can the president continue to blame that and lay it entirely on the lap of president burr? >> i didn't say anything about blame --. jon: i'm not saying that you did but he does say, you know, in his stump speech he lays a lot of the problems that resulted in the economy of 2008 on president bush. >> sure. well, it's true. everything that went wrong with the american economy happened before the president took office. i mean if you look at declining wages, slow job growth, the financial crisis, housing crisis, the

recession all of those things happened before president obama took office. jon: but a lot of that was global. a lot of that was worldwide? >> we have made progress since then. the country is clearly better off today than we were. we're much safer than we were when president obama took office. so he will make the case that progress has been made. there is lot more to do. i think you will hear a lot about his vision for what he wants to get done in the second term as i went through already in the discussion. jon: kate, what are you expecting to hear? >> the key point here that the majority of the american people do not believe that we're better off than we were four years ago. and you know, the democrats can keep blaming bush for what they inherited. look, obama wanted to be president. he said that his vision would improve things. not only has it not improved things it has made things worse. the clearest evidence of that is the debt. the debt is now, it is going to hit $16 trillion, today or tomorrow. and that embodies what is the problem with this administration. and with the lack of a vision for the future.

now they're saying in order to fix the problem of this $6 trillion increase in our debt, we have to tax the job creators, the job producers, the income producers. that will be their entire line of attack, really. it will not be anything positive. no great vision. it is going to be there are people who have benefited at your expense and let's go after them. that is going to be the entire approach from here until the election. jon: kate owe ben shame and simon rosenberg, in the next hour we'll talk about polls of what voters think about the responsibility for this whole economic mess. thank you both. jenna: we'll move down south. fox news alert on of aftermath of hurricane isaac one week after the storm ripped across the gulf coast and thousands of folks are still without power. maria molina told us the temperatures are really hot there. humidity is high as well. so that is also a factor. some areas are covered by four feet of water. homes are flooded out in parts of new orleans, some

say it rivals the damage done by hurricane katrina. >> i'm just shocked. i was here for katrina too. we had power back the next day. this is total, total opposite of what katrina was for us. >> would be nice if they put levee protection around our area as well as new orleans. all they did was protect new orleans. they didn't protect outer lying areas. so the water had nowhere to go. so it had become this way. jenna: floods leaving many, you see on your screen, dead livestock. alligators and snakes lurking in the waters. if you have water in the house another factor you have to think about. casey stiegel live in louisiana with more on all this. casey. >> reporter: if i see some of those alligators or snakes i'm out of here. we are at a fema disaster recovery center right back here behind me in plaquemines parish which as you know one of the hardest hit areas of isaac. this is one of five of these centers that are set up in

the region. and it is really difficult to go live from inside of there because the feds want to protect the privacy of victims who have come here and who are grieving it in many ways. they lost their homes and need assistance from the federal government. there are a lot of things folks can do. we've seen them coming in and out of here all morning long. they can go in there and get assistance for applying for special loans. either to clean up their property or to rebuild. they can get a hot meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner being served inside. temporary housing assistance also available for people who live in neighborhoods like this. brathwaite, neighborhoods that are still underwater and maybe they have to stay in a hotel pause they obviously can not go back into their homes. now a lot of people are talking about the power here. i want to tell you, that utility crews from all over the united states are on the ground. they have converged on this region. i have seen them in the last eight days that we have been here to put up new lines.

they're working hard to get service restored and the very latest numbers coming to us from entergy, the utility provider here, now that 95% of service has been restored and they expect the other 5% to be restored by the end of the day with the exception of those extremely hard-hit flooded areas. and as all of the evacuation orders are lifted, some folks going in for the first time and seeing the damage, listen to their reaction. >> i see it on tv i hear about it. but i never witnessed myself. to see it really for the first time like this, it is inspiring. makes your eyes water a little bit. >> it is out of here now. we're trying to get our lives back together and trying to get our places back where we can live in them. >> reporter: very preliminary estimates put isaac's damage at nearly $2 billion. jenna? jenna: wow! casey, thank you. >> reporter: you got it. jon: some problems overseas now. activists say hundreds of

homes in a syrian border city have been burned to the ground. this as more refugees flee the country and the bloody civil war that left more than 20,000 people dead. some new details on the latest international effort to stop the massacre in syria. here in the u.s., fox news is america's election headquarters. we are on the ground in charlotte with everything you need to know as the democratic national convention gets underway this evening. we have big dreams.

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>> reporter: hi, jenna. this latest report from the rebels of house burning by government soldiers is part of what is being called collective punishment taken out by the assad regime on a number of civilian towns as a way to punish them for giving the rebels someplace to hole up or some kind of safe haven. they're trying to dedeny them that. president assad will allow the red cross in to provide civilian assistance into the areas. we're waiting a long time for the regime on its promises to help civilians in the country. that hasn't happened. what is constant the continued assault on a number of cities all across the country in testimonies of artillery barrages and bombing by the syrian air force. the military is calling up reserve troops because they have taken a pounding among 300,000 combat troops assad has in the army.

the rebel forces are not organized enough other than to launch insurgent attacks as they're doing thus far as the humanitarian crisis gets worse. we're seeing lines for days and hours at the turkish border fleeing with only clothes on their back. jenna: we see pictures of families there you wonder what is means for the next generation that has had to go through this the last 18 months. leland, thank you. jon: after five weeks of testimony drew peterson's murder trial is coming to a close. coming up our legal panel takes a look at closing arguments in that case. if you had to pick yourself a secret code name what would you want it to be? coming up what the secret service agents are calling congressman paul ryan and his wife on the campaign trail. (bell rings)

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jon: right now closing arguments underway in the drew peterson murder trial. the former illinois cop accused of killing his third wife, kathleen savio. she was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. prosecutors will argue a mountain of circumstantial evidence points to peterson. the defense will say the state hasn't even proven savio's debt was a homicide. peterson was charged with first-degree murder after his fourth wife disappeared in 2007. he is pleading not guilty in this case. let's talk about it with lis wiehl, fox news analyst. rachel self, a criminal defense attorney. rachel, as a good criminal defense attorney you say the client in this case is going to walk. why? >> yes, i think the client will definitely walk with this case. i wouldn't rent an apartment based on evidence presented in this case, based on hearsay presented in this case let alone convict someone of murder. they haven't even proven it

was a murder. they went fishing around after four years once his second wife became, went missing. at first it was ruled as an accident. they have nothing, no physical evidence. no testimonial evidence placing him at the scene. nobody is saying he was there. i think it will be tough for somebody in good conscience convict him of murder and sentence him to life in jail. jon: i don't know. i guess it comes, brings into question the common sense aspect of the jury. lis, how many ordinary women, good health,. >> right. jon: slip and fall in a bathtub and then drown? >> slip and fall in a bath tub a dry bathtub. jon: the water apparently drained out after she died which is normal. >> it was ruled as a homicide after wife number four, stacy peterson went missing t was ruled as a homicide. you've got that. you have a blunt gash in the back of her head. and you have a lot of, you have a lot of testimony. you have the third wife, the victim here, testifying literally from the grave. there was a hearsay exception made to this law. she testified about how he

was going to make her killing, her murder look like an accident. you had all the witnesses testifying, 30 of it them. wife number four, stacy, gone missing, testifying she knew that drew peterson left that night, about that time he left that night. and she talked to her pastor or priest about if she were to get a divorce from this guy could she used the fact he had admitted that he confessed to her that he killed kathleen. there is a lot of evidence. jon: rachel, the jury doesn't know presumably that the fourth wife, stacy peterson has disappeared. i mean they heard some testimony from her but they don't know she has gone missing. >> well, they all know she has gone missing. they're just not supposed to consider it. jurors take the rules very seriously and take their jobs as jurors very seriously. when the judge says you're not supposed to consider something they generally won't consider it. we're all human. everyone knows his fourth wife went missing. the issue here too, you have

these things as lis was saying that were testified to. and you've got a failure to, to be able to cross-examine these alleged, these alleged witnesses. >> you have a failure to be able to cross-examine them because they're not there or they're missing. that is the whole point -- >> lis, the intent of the party at the time the witness went missing is what's key. not necessarily if the witness went missing. did you -- >> here say would never have been admitted but for the fact if you can not create hearsay and have evidence not come in because you killed the vick who then can't testify. >> right but there needs to be --. jon: arguments made in the courtroom but not on "happening now." a lot of passion on both sides. closing arguments today. we'll find out soon what happens to drew peterson. rachel self, lease we'll, thank you both. >> good to see you. jenna: the secret service is keeping a close eye on the campaign trail. agents use code names to

identify candidates but politicians get to pick their own aliases. jon: looking at my watch now. jenna: getting reports about who is who in the security lingo. new reports say vice-presidential nominee paul ryan decided to go by, bow hunter. his wife janna, is called buttercup. spouses usually pick names with the same letter. that is same pattern. joining bow hunter and buttercup on the trail is javelin, better known as mitt romney. facing off against the president, who goes by renegade, and vice president joe biden is is known as celtic. we asked on twitter to give names for us. some you gave for john jon include anchorman, ply boy, for piloting maybe his dance moves. you never know. and then wolf, big bad wolf, you thought it would be cute. big bad wolf and little red riding hood. i'm not sure how i feel

about that. jon: jenna is dubbed tiger lilly. tough and beautiful says jeff. jenna: i will go with jeff on that. >> road riding hood. and this might be my favorite. sell today. jenna: sell today. jon: ever seen the videogame, the legend of zelda? there she is. there is zelda. jenna: i love her outfit. we'll be right back with more hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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jenna: well, democrats get ready to gavel in their convention to sell a second term for the president to the american people. jon: also, can the president and his party overcome a tough economy that has many asking, are we better off than we were four years ago? we have got a great lineup of guests and reporters coming up. plus, secretary of state hillary clinton has blunt words for those responsible for a horrific attack in pakistan that wounded two americans. we'll get a live report on that. and it could be days before

crews contain a raging fire near los angeles. the very latest "happening now." jenna: well, this is the way it works, republicans have their turn in tampa, democrats get their turn in charlotte, and what they're going to try to do is make the case that the president deserves four more years in office. how are they going to do that? manager we're going to talk about this -- something we're going to talk about this hour. jon: i'm jon scott. democrats are looking to recapture the political spotlight. some of the party's biggest stars will be on stage tonight in charlotte including the first lady, michelle obama. and throughout the convention their task will be to convince voters president obama offers the best chance to get america back on track. bret baier is the anchor of "special report." simple question, bret, how do they intend to do that? >> i think it's a simple question, but one that we've seen over the past couple of days has tripped up a couple of

democrats. i think now their focus is laying out the future of what the next four years would look like and point out that when the president took over, he took over a very bad economy from george w. bush. that's the answer they've been giving over the past day. i think the real question is how specific will president obama get on thursday? all of these speeches leading up to that speech, obviously, will set the table, and the biggest-watched speech this week will probably be former president clinton, how he talks about president obama? regards to his legacy as well. jon: we talked about it in an earlier segment, you know, both campaigns have been sort of long on rhetoric and short on specifics. we haven't heard a lot from president obama and the democrats about what specifically he intends to do if he's reelected for another term. >> well, that's exactly right. i mean, there's all this talk about mitt romney's speech. he did at one point in the primary put out a 59-point plan.

he boiled it down to five points and laid out what he wants to do over those five points. how the president addresses the specifics, what he can get done in the current environment in washington, what he will get done. remember, there's a lot of talk about how entitlement reform and tax reform are really the big issues. but we really haven't heard the specifics from the president of how he will tackle those big issues, and that's one of the things that i think people are going to be looking for. jon, republicans are going to focus on the numbers here, that it comes down to three numbers basically. 8.3% unemployment, $3.80 average a gallon of gasoline, and $16 trillion which is the national debt. and they will continue to hammer those three numbers as no matter how you spin it or how you talk about it, those three numbers are reality. jon: there was that interview i think on nbc four years ago where the president said if i can't get it done in four years,

i'll be a one-term president. now he's making the argument that he just underestimated the time that he needs to get the economy turned around? >> exactly. and he'll say he has big plans for investment in green energy and taking the country into the future. they'll try to paint this convention as looking to the future, and the republican convention as looking to the past. again, the numbers will be the republicans' asset this week to counter some of these things that are said. but democrats will really try to sway women and hispanics and independents to say, you know, we can get this thing moving if we stay on the path we're on. it's really about not so much how are you better off, it's really how you felt, how do you feel about the last four years and how do you feel going forward, and that's the challenge for the president. jon: bret baier, you're a busy guy. good of you to chat with us today. catch all the action tonight,

he's got exclusive interviews with illinois democrat and senate majority whip dick durbin on "special report," 6 p.m. tonight. then keep it right here for full coverage of the democratic national convention on america's election headquarters. jenna: republicans going all out to put their own spin on the democratic convention. that's the way it works, right? paul ryan holding several events this week to bracket his opponent's message. here's what he had to say this morning on cbs. >> the president is asking people just to be patient with him. look, charlie, the kind of recession we had we should be bouncing out of it creating jobs. we're not creating jobs at near the pace we could. that's why we're offering big solutions for the big problems we have today. we're offering bold solutions. the romney plan for a stronger middle class is a five-point plan, and we think it's going to work. jenna: doug mckelway with more on what the gop is up to today. hi, doug. >> reporter: hi, jenna. here we are in woodstock,

vermont, and you might be asking why? well, this is the area just a few miles up the road where mitt romney arrived at about 10:15 this morning at the home of kerry healey. the summer home on an excluded 150 acres may be the perfect location for romney to quietly prepare for those three upcoming october debates, the first one october 3rd in denver, colorado. while he spends the next three days preparing, he's going to leave the rapid response to his surrogates, people like texas senate candidate ted cruz operating out of the rapid response headquarters at nascar's hall of fame in charlotte. but leading the charge is vp pick paul ryan who in south carolina yesterday drew parallels between the obama administration and the carter administration. here he is. >> 77,000 delinquent mortgages by the time jimmy carter left office. under president obama three

million. so when you take a look at what we're going to hear in charlotte today, the president can say a lot of things, and he will, but he can't tell you that you're better off. >> reporter: serving as romney's sparring partner in the three days of mock debate will be ohio senator rob portman, a man who apparently provided such a dead-on portrayal of candidate obama in mock debates four years ago with senator mccain, that the the l.a. times reported cindy mccain wouldn't speak to him for days after. senator mccain seconded that when offering this advice to the obama campaign on "the o'reilly factor" last night. >> take the offense and attack his record. he cannot defend his record. take the offense. and by the way, senator rob portman is playing obama in the practice. i guarantee you portman will prepare him. i hate rob portman to this day because of him playing obama -- [laughter] in our preparation for the debates.

>> reporter: romney is traveling without his wife and with only limited staff so he can better focus on these debate preparations, among those who have been seen with romney as he got to the home just north of here are his aides bob white, ben ginsburg and also ron kaufman. we are not expecting to see mr. romney at all during these three days of debate preparation. jenna: wow, who knew that about senator portman? thank you very much for that. i guess he's the guy you want to compete with. jon: a little tongue in cheek from senator mccain. jenna: but proves a point. he's the kind of buy guy you want to practice with. jon: rob portman is a smart guy, former budget director, and i guess he can play the part of the president. well, the democratic convention kicking off today in charlotte, prime time speakers beginning at 10 p.m. eastern time including maryland governor martin o'malley, joaquin castro

and his brother, san antonio mayor, julian castro. he is tonight's keynote speaker. then a nationwide audience will hear from michelle obama. so right now a democratic star in the spotlight. julian castro, the 37-year-old mayor of san antonio, will give the keynote address tonight. that is the same gig that launched an obscure senate candidate -- actually, i think he was a state senator at the time -- onto the national stage just eight years ago. that would be barack obama. senior national correspondent john roberts is live from charlotte. john? >> reporter: good afternoon to you, jon. yeah, he was a state senator at the time. i was on the podium during that convention, got a chance to interview him right after, and look where he is now. a lot of people are saying the same thing could happen to julian castro. i spent some time with him and his brother, joaquin, and his mother rosie. first elected in 2001, won the

mayorship in 2009, reelected in an 82% landslide in 2011, so no question big things ahead for him. i'm told that his speech is going to be about 15 minutes long, it will touch on a number of themes including his own personal family story. here's what he told me about that. >> my grandmother came here from mexico when she was a young girl. she dropped out of elementary school, and she worked as a maid, a cook and a babysitter so that my mother could have a good shot in life. she raised my brother and myself so that we could graduate from high school and go to college and reach our dreams. and, you know, that story is made in america. >> reporter: he describes himself as a pragmatic politician who in the nonpartisan role as mayor of san antonio reaches across party lines to get things done. he says he is not an idealogue. that said, though, the keynote speech is all about throwing red meat out to the party faithful. one of the issues that he differs with republicans on is

on medicare. i asked him what his views of the ryan medicare plan were, here's what he told me. >> very, very extreme compared to what we've seen before. you know, this medicare plan by introducing a voucher system and changing the rules of medicare in that way, i believe, fundamentally undermine it. >> repter: so that is going to be some of what you hear tonight. he disagrees with many of the aspects of the romney/ryan plan. people are talking about castro as potentially the first hispanic president of the united states. i asked him about that, he said he's very happy being mayor of san antonio. but he is term limited, and after 2017 he's got to figure out what he wallets to do next. jon: rarely do politicians go gently off into that good night. >> reporter: this fellow won't. trust me on that. jon: john roberts, thank you. jenna: most of the country had a nice holiday weekend, but for some out west there was a lot to deal with.

a raging wildfire is sending campers home and the battle firefighters have ahead for them. we'll get into that with a live report just ahead. plus, a milestone democrats may want to avoid as they kick off their convention. the nation's debt set to pass the $16 trillion mark. what this means for the president, what this means for mitt romney, and what about the plans that both of them have, apparently, to cut the soaring deficit? is it enough? we have reaction from karl rove. hi there, crrl. we'll be right with you next. >> there's a little gathering going on over in charlotte. [laughter] heard about this? the president can say a lot of things, and he will, but he can't tell you that you're better off. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle

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jon: let's check some of the top business headlines for you now. bad news today on u.s. construction and manufacturing. the government reporting a sharp decline in both sectors. factory activity shrinking as

construction is weighed down by a big drop in home improvement spending. plus, it's getting more expensive to purchase a home. according to a private real estate, to two private real estate data, the average price has jumped nearly 4%, the biggest increase in nearly six years. and and chrysler says its sales rose merely 15% last month, crediting a rise in consumer demand for the dodge ram pickup truck. the automaker selling more than 25,000 of them in august alone. jenna: well, right now america inching closer to a new benchmark for the national debt. our red ink expected to hit the $16 trillion mark, i believe within the next 24 or 48 hours as the democrats pound the gavel to open their convention. fox news contributor karl rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to president george w. bush. karl, it's not like you're busy or anything, thanks for joining us today. >> thank you.

and greetings from the floor of the democratic national convention. who would have ever thought i'd be there? [laughter] jenna: you look great. it's a whole new thing for you, karl. let me just ask you something broad before we get into the specifics. taxpayer money funds these conventions, $68 million dose to each convention -- goes to each convention. so we're paying for security and for balloons and all that sort of stuff. why should americans believe either party when it comes to reducing the debt if both parties are taking our money to fund these big conventions? >> yeah. well, good question. look, some of it is these are so-called national security events, that is to say if they weren't held, if they weren't paid for by the, in part by the public and were still held, we would treat them like we do to limb picks or big, you know, the super bowl, and there would be federal monies for security. that's just the nature of the post-9/11 world. but, yeah, it's a legitimate question. maybe we ought to have these

funded the way we used to fund general election campaigns by a checkoff. if you want to support your party's convention, you check it off on your tax form, and a dollar or two dollars goes to support the convention. jenna: that would be an interesting development, and i wonder with the introduction of super pacs -- you co-of founded one, american crossroads -- if you would see tax money not using for conventions, but instead funded by super pacs. >> it used to be they were picked up by individual and corporate contributions, and it was after the 1976 election law changes, republicans had a particularly bad convention i think it was in 1972 or maybe it was 1980 in san diego, and that put a big emphasis behind trying to get some more money for the political conventions. both parties, as you say, passed it. but we are living in an era where if we're funding the conventions, we're borrowing

money from china in order to pay for it. jenna: it's unbelievable. if you just want to write a check, we'll take it. no, i'm kidding. [laughter] we won't take your money. >> you have me mistaken for a multigeorgia zillion their you might know. [laughter] jenna: let's get to the basics when it comes to the deficit and some of the arguments we're going to hear from the parties. bill clinton, big speaker wednesday night. and one of the things the president had talked about is, basically, telling the public, listen, i'm just doing what bill clinton did, i'm just putting the tax rates back to what bill clinton did, and that's what we're going back to. you liked that economy, you liked bill clinton, that's going to work for us. how does the gop come back at that type of argument from the president and from the rest of the democrats? >> well, first of all, he wants tax rates to be above what they were under bill clinton, and he doesn't want to do what bill clinton agreed to do after the 1994 elections, and that is cut spending. if you look at the president's budget proposal for the next ten years, it calls for $300 billion

in higher taxes, taxes higher than the republican baseline budget. most of those derived by having higher taxes on the wealthy and on small business. one-half of all small business income would be taxed at a higher rate under the president's proposal. so we have $300 billion more in revenue. but under the president's budget proposal, we have a trillion more in spending than under the republican baseline. so, yeah, we raise taxes $300 billion, but we raise spending by a trillion, thereby eating up any advantage and, quote, reducing the deficit. the deficit is bigger at the end of ten years as a result of increasing spending by a trillion dollars more than is called for in the baseline budget voted upon and passed by the u.s. house of representatives. jenna: but richard rubin in bloomberg says romney has undefined spending reductions, he's vague on taxes. at least the president put out a budget where he looked at agency by agency what he would do and, yes, everyone voted against it, but you have a plan from the president. so i only have about a minute, but what does romney do?

>> two things. one is the president's plan is for the next ten years and after that it absolutely lets go of spending and it balloons the deficit up. i mean, at the end of ten years we've got a trillion-plus-dollar deficit, and it gets worse after that. romney laid out a good plan. revenue neutral, i'm going to reduce all tax rates 20% and pay for it by closing loopholes. if we can't make it revenue neutral, we won't cut the rates for everybody by 20%, but by simplifying the tax code, he'll encourage economic growth. and what we need to do is grow our economy. that's the answer to reduce, and you match that with spending reductions, spending restability, and you've got the path to balancing the budget which is exactly what the house republican budget plan. it puts us on a path to balance the budget. the president, under his plan, never balances the budget. in fact, it gets increasingly worse as years go by. jenna: we'll see what happens as we learn more about each candidate over the next couple weeks. karl, live from the floor of the democratic national convention.

karl -- >> who would have thought? jenna: karl, thank you. jon: nobody running behind him with a hook? jenna: not that we saw. jon: hey, why the candidates are fighting so hard for support in wisconsin.

jon: congressman paul ryan has just taken the stage at a campaign rally in ohio. the vice presidential nominee from the republican side holding a victory rally at west lake recreation center just 12 miles from downtown cleveland. this is congressman ryan's fourth visit to the buckeye state since he was chosen as governor romney's running mate last month. you can watch the entire event streaming live on foxnews.com. president obama still days from becoming the official

democratic nominee, but starting thursday voters in 32 states will be able to cast their ballot for president. folks in north carolina will be able to vote just as the dnc wraps up there. indiana and kentucky are next on the calendar followed by the critical battleground, wisconsin. then with highly-contested states like new hampshire and virginia among those opening right after that, these early votes could prove crucial come november. jenna: jon, you just mentioned wisconsin is very crucial battle growpped state, and we're going to take a closer look at what's actually going on there. the latest real clear politics poll shows the president and mitt romney really neck in neck, the president slightly ahead at 8% to 46 -- 48% to 46, well within the margin of error. if you look at the electoral votes, you have ten. everyone counts, of course, especially when it comes to these battleground states. here's the unemployment rate, you see it's about a full percentage point lower than the national average, so that's

significant. and we wanted to show you gas prices as well because you don't see the unemployment rate every day in front of you, but you probably see gas prices, and that can make you feel a certain way about the economy. the average gas price in wisconsin is about ten cents higher than the national average. take a look at the history of visits as well. mitt romney spending quite a bit of time in wisconsin, seven visits. the president hasn't been there since april. so let's talk a little bit about this with craig gilbert, washington bureau chief for the milwaukee journal sentinel. he's in charlotte for the convention. what do you think about the visits? do the wisconsinites feel they don't have enough attention from the president? what is it like? >> well, wisconsin's been sort of buried in politics for a year and a half now, so we had the huge recall showdown. after that i think they appreciated getting a bit of a breather, but there's an anticipation that both campaigns will be back this fall. they haven't been on the air in

wisconsin, most people think that's going to change in part because of what you've been talking about, paul ryan's selection has made the state a tighter race, and it's an incredibly tempting target for republicans because it's been voting democratic since the 1980s. but it's been very close in some of those elections, and it could really have an impact on the map. jenna: i was reading your recent article that included your thoughts in your reporting about paul ryan and the fact that he is such a firebrand within that state. how do you think it's going to play out? what do you see ahead? >> well, i think one thing it does for sure is it commits the romney campaign to making a major effort in wisconsin which wasn't always guaranteed. i think it does help them on the margins. um, and i think, you know, it could -- i'm not sure the republican turnout in wisconsin needed much more motivation than thai had. one of the -- they've had. one of the reasons wisconsin is tempting for republicans is because the base is incredibly mobilized there in part because of the recall election. paul ryan just adds to that, but he is a lightning rod in wisconsin like he is elsewhere,

and so i think he probably motivates people on both sides. jenna: congressman pass grow, a democrat from new jersey, joined us last hour, and he said really this race is going to be won on the ground. it's not going to be about some of these big speeches, but you know we're going to be listening to the big speeches over the next couple days. is there anything within the democrats' platform that you think will particularly resonate with folks in wisconsin that could bring new voters into the game? >> well, they obviously, i think they have to make the same economic arguments about kind of where they're headed and what's happened in the last four years that they do have to elsewhere. and the fiscal arguments are very important in wisconsin. i mean, that's been the debating ground for some time now. i mean, it is a base versus base election in some respects, but there are swing voters in a state like wisconsin. i mean, we had -- there were areas of the state that obama carried by ten points that scott walker, a republican, carried by 20 or 30 points in june in the recall election.

jenna: wow. >> so there's a lot of swing voters in the state. so it's not just turning out that base vote, so conventions do matter in that regard. jenna: that's unbelievable, to see that type of swing in one area in a matter of such a short period of time. what about your early voting? is that going to be a huge factor in the wisconsin? do you see a lot of folks getting out, you know, a big chunk of time ahead of the november voting day? >> right. yeah, i mean, it's important. i mean, both sides will try to drive that early vote. wisconsin, the early vote is not as huge a factor as in other state, but wisconsin's also a state that has same-day registration, so you're going to see a massive effort. it's a very high turnout state. i mean, it's been among the highest. everybody votes in wisconsin, so you're going to see a lot of effort put into that. jenna: most importantly, how are the packers going to do? no, i'm just kidding. we don't need to talk -- politics is your thing, we'll stay with politics. it's nice to have you on the program, look forward to having you back. >> anytime, thanks. jon: i think those seven romney

visits probably include a lot of visits to the ryan household for lunch, don't you think? jenna: probably sneaky because everyone's watching what you're doing before you pick your vice president. jon: going over to janesville for bratwursts and beer. anyway, secretary of state clinton reacts to a bomb blast in pakistan. she calls that terror act a cowardly one. plus, we'll take you live to the democratic convention in charlotte where we'll talk to a top latino democrat about president obama and hispanic voters. look! she wears the scarlet markings! out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ villager 1 ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ villagers gping ] reverend? ♪

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jon: going to take you now to norfolk, virginia, president obama is wrapping up his road to charlotte tour what last-minute stop there today. this is the speaker who will introduce the president, we understand. the president expected to address a crowd of supporters at norfolk state university as soon as this gentleman leaves the podium. it's his second visit to virginia in less than a week. polls in virginia give the president a slight edge over governor romney. if you would like to catch the president's remarks in their entirety we'll have them streaming for you on foxnews.c foxnews.com. >> barack obama will say to every american that if you work your heart out ever day, if you leave it all at the construction site, in the laboratory, in the

classroom, at the operating table, then we'll help you open the door to college, and to the doctor's office. we'll help you save for the down payment, or for a dignified retirement. we'll help you build a better life for your family. jenna: that was california congressman javier becerra addressing the 2008 democratic convention in denver. he will be back again tonight on stage at the convention in charlotte. big stage, big arena and congressman becerra is vice chairman of the house democratic caucus and he joins us now. nice to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me again. jenna: i don't get points for creativity with the next question but you made the argument in 2008 about a better life ahead tore americans. aeu aheaahead for americans. for years later are we better off than we were four years ago? >> absolutely. think about this. jenna lee, four years ago today,

september, 2008, americans, 425,000 americans lost their jobs. the last report we saw, 170,000 americans gained jobs. 401k, take a look at your 401k today, what was your 401k four years ago? home prices are going back up again. the stock market is up. there are still many americans who are hurting. we have a lot of work to do and the president will admit it, we want to do more, but absolutely today things are better than they were four years ago. four years ago we thought we would go into that black hole and never come out. jenna: you have a nice sound track behind you for the message. i know it's difficult to do an interview with that going on. i appreciate your patience. you mentioned a lot of statistics important to our viewers. you mentioned something in your previous speech that was interesting. you said over the past eight years, speaking in 2008, family incomes have dropped a thousand dollars under the bush administration. i checked and under the president's administration

family incomes have dropped $4,000 over the last four years. so why should the american people trust this administration with another term? >> because, jenna lee, what you're looking at is the fact that we are beginning to climb out of that black hole. remember when a plane is on the way crashing and a nose dive you don't all of a sudden go back up 35,000 feet. it takes time to climb out of that deep dive. we are seeing that. no one is going to deny we have work to do. the president is the first to admit it. let's make sure we have a president in the white house who wants to go forward, not go back to the old policies that got us in the mess. certainly we need to have a congress, not a do nothing congress but a congress that is actually going to work with the president. jenna: what specifically will define the president in his next term in office? what can we, the american people, expect of a second term of the president specifically? >> i think people are going to want to see the president

continue to say, i'm going to move us forward. we are going to get out of this rut. we're climbing, we're climbing, we're going to do that. what he's got to do, i believe is work on job one, which is jobs, more jobs. you get more jobs, more businesses producing more, you get more businesses doing more then everybody does well including the federal government which has to do so many things, medicare, education and all the rest. jenna: let's get specifically into that. bloomberg just reported this. bloomberg said that food stamp use climbed to a record in june 46.7 million in june. so specifically when it gets to people that are, for example, collecting food stamps right now that don't want to collect food stamps that want to get work. what is the president's plan to get them back to work specifically? >> it's very simple. he has a bill that's been sitting over a year in congress where the republicans won't allow a vote on it. it's the american jobs act. over a million jobs would be created if we got that bill passed. by the way, one of the aspects

of that bill was the payroll tax cut for middle income americans which has gone through. the other parts of it that would help with another million jobs are not. there are a number of things he's trying to tkorbg th to do, the transportation bilk held up i transportation bill bill, being held up in the house of representatives. jobs in the construction industry. there is a lot we can do, we have to give the small business community a sense that people want to go in and purchase, if you don't have that demand we are going to be in trouble. jenna: you mentioned so many of the challenges that the president has had with congress, and rightfully so, obviously the things that the president has proposed haven't worked their way through congress. would you support more executive orders in the next four years for the president if that means that we get some of his policies through or as a congressman, someone who is participating in this process would you want to see the president lead in a different way? >> jenna lee, i think you, me, every single american would like to see a government where the

president and the congress are working together, and the courts are our check to make sure we do it right. at the same time, the president can only ask so many times for congress to move on things. at some point if the congress is going to just put not do anything the president has got to move. the president didn't wait for others to tell him that we needed to go after osama bin laden, he went out and did it. the president didn't wait when gm was about to go under, he went out and did it and made sure that the auto industry stayed in america. i hope that the president finds the congress willing to work with him, debate, discuss, come up with a compromise, a down the middle, but move. we need to move forward, not go backwards. jenna: we'll look for those specifics in the president's speech a little later on this week and your speech tonight we look forward to congressman. true or false is that song going to be stuck in my head the whole day. >> [singing] note.

jenna: you've got a pretty good voice, congressman. it's always nice to have you. we appreciate you take being the time to answer some of our questions. looking forward to having you back. >> always good to be with you. jon: well the president has showed his singing chops a time or two as well. right now he's addressing a crowd of supporters at norfolk state university in virginia. he's doing a little last-minute campaigning in some of the swing states, and this race is tight as a drum in virginia. the two candidates essentially tied there according to the polls. the president is trying to bulge the needle his way with this speech at norfolk state university in norfolk. we'll have it streaming for you live on foxnews.com if you'd like to hear what the president has to say. jenna: it is certainly a busy time election day just about two months away. voters are responding to the question on everyone's mind, the congressman just talked to us a little bit about this.

are you really better off today than four years ago. plus, which candidate most people want to see in the white house next year. we have a panel of pollsters up next. ♪

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so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. jonof state clinton condemning a deadly attack outside a u.s. consulate in pakistan. two people were killed after a van carrying american and pakistani personnel was targeted by a homicide bomber in another vehicle. at least 19 others were also hurt. secretary clinton currently on a tour of asia calls that attack a cowardly act. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live with us from washington now. >> thank you and good morning. it's still early in the investigation. the secretary of state telling reporters on a brief stopover seas that the suicide car bomber specifically targeted the u.s. embassy suv adding that the brazen attack is condemned by the administration in the strongest possible terms. >> let me just very clearly condemn the attack on our

consulate personnel in pershar, pakistan. we pray for the safe recovery of both american and pakistani victims, and once again we deplore the cowardly act of suicide bombing and terrorism. >> this morning we are learning more about the car.com itself. 240-pound of explosive were packed into the vehicle. the blast was so powerful that the engine was tossed into the air and thrown 20 feet. u.s. officials say the embassy driver noticed a suspicious vehicle tracking them moments before the explosion. the driver veered away and that last-minute decision avoiding a head on collision limiting the loss of life. two pakistanis are dead and a dozen wounded including two americans. if you look closely at the still photo you can see the red diplomatic license plate, virtually all that is recognizable in that wreck. based on preliminary data this morning u.s. officials believe the taliban or the pakistan

based haqqani network may be responsible for the suicide bombing. august 24th a u.s. drone strike reportedly killed the son of this man who is the founder of the haqqani network. since that strike there has been an expectation of reprisal attacks against u.s. targets in pakistan. what is not clear this morning is how the suicide bomber was able to travel through a heavily guarded area and identify the u.s. embassy suv. the attack raises the possibility of an insider providing the tip-off. embassy security is being reviewed this morning, jon. jon: we don't think enough about our embassy personnel and the great job they do around the world and the chances they take. thank you. jenna: brand-new polls showing which way folks are leaning and which issues are affecting their decision. our panel of pollsters goes behind the numbers ahead. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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jon: hours away now from the start of the democratic convention. let's take a look at the latest "real clear politics" average of the polls. president obama, governor mitt romney in a dead heat for the white house. there you see the numbers. it is a tie at 46 -- a virtual tie, 46%. so what does this say about how voters view the president's record at this stage in the campaign? let's talk about it with a couple of polling experts. path cadell is a fox news contributor and former pollster for president jimmy carter. adam geller is a pollster for new jersey governor chris christie and founder and ceo of national research. thanks for joining us. you can help us pick apart some of these numbers. the "real clear politics" average, it just shows this race continue get any tighter. pretty low numbers though for an incumbent and this might be the

reason why. "the hill" took a poll of likely voters and asked are you satisfied with the president's handling of the economy. not at all satisfied comes out at 50%, not very satisfied at 8%. that is really going to be issue number one, isn't it, pat? >> yes, it is. you know, what you have here is a combination of factors. i was listening to the earlier interview that jenna was doing with the congressman. it's just great bravado to go out there and claim the country is better off when it was four years ago when voters clearly think it isn't. unemployment is up. the majority believes they are not better off. the issue of whether you're better off or not really applies not just to the economy or to your personal life but also to the country. and that's where people think we are not making progress. and they see, you know, the decline in real income, which republicans don't use very much -rpbgs but , but i would.

the problem with the debt, all these things. the president has a problem if it's his record, that's why he's not running on it, he loses. that's why he's at 46. he has to keep pressing governor romney and they have to keep arguing to extraneous issues that are of lesser importance in the vote calculus, like abortion, gay rights, you know, romney kills people with cancer, things like that. jon: adam, looking at the hill poll. it asked likely voters, are you in better or worse condition than you were four years ago. according to the numbers 52% of americans, again these are likely voters say they are worse off thanhey were four years ago. what do you think about that split, adam? >> well, pat is exactly right. there is an old song lyric that says the stars may lie but the numbers never do. and this is something that the obama campaign is living every day. they are trying to deflect

attention away from the last four years, you know, they are not -- they don't want it to be a referendum. they are insisting it's a choice. this is what incumbent campaigns do when they have bad numbers, they say, well, look at the other guy, and they are going to spend the next couple of months trying to demonize mitt romney. i would suggest that that's a problem. they've spent the entire summer doing that, and you started out this segment showing a 46-46 tie so it didn't do them any good. jon: pat? >> they've done real damage to romney, let's not kid ourselves, and i don't think adam is. they've done real damage, and it's taken romney the convention to basically try to patch himself up some. his tpaeufrbl favorables are still very low. if the romney campaign had filled in their own picture in the spring after they secured the nomination, on bain, on the olympics on what he believes, he would have come into that convention, he'd be four or five

points ahead. make no mistake about it, this is romney's election to lose and it's a dead heat. so that encourages the president. but having said that i think the better hand here, because of the facts may be romney's, particularly if he brings in two elements that so far they started to do at the convention, i don't know if they are going to sustain which is to get off medicare and get onto obamacare, which is really unpopular and build some urgency into this campaign that in fact we're facing crisis coming and you can't just do the next years. and the obama campaign is simply keep pressing the attack. jon: we'll continue to watch the numbers. adam geller and pat cadell thank you both. >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. jon: we'll be right back. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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